


Home for the Holidays! (Christmas in July Special!)

by Piko82198



Category: Free!
Genre: Christmas, Christmas in July special!, Cute boyfriends being dorks, Idk what else to tag you guys tell me, M/M, One Shot, Tooth-Rotting Fluff, rintori - Freeform
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2016-07-29
Updated: 2016-07-29
Packaged: 2018-07-27 10:55:34
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 3,892
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/7615306
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Piko82198/pseuds/Piko82198
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Home is where the heart is. Ai spends Christmas with Rin and his family, which proves to be fun, romantic, and very merry indeed. Christmas in July special to satisfy my RinTori fluff cravings. </p>
<p>please check out my main current work:</p>
<p>http://archiveofourown.org/works/6718774/chapters/15363265</p>
            </blockquote>





	Home for the Holidays! (Christmas in July Special!)

Ai sighed softly, taking a glance through the train window before pulling the shade down. Looking to his other side he was treated to the heavenly sight of Rin sleeping on his shoulder. He brought a pale hand up to lightly stroke sangria coloured hair, feeling Rin's soft breaths against his arm. 

 

_ He was up all night, _ Ai thought, pitying his boyfriend. The fact of the matter was that they were up together. Rin was excited and had told Ai at least four times that he couldn't wait to be home. As for Ai- what kept him up was anxiety. He was more than nervous about meeting Rin's mother, and about stepping foot inside Rin's home, and mostly about spending Christmas with his boyfriend's family. He sighed again, trying not to worry about making the wrong impression. 

 

“Ai,” Rin grumbled, his eyes still closed. 

 

“Rin?” Ai whispered as not to disturb anyone else on the train. 

 

“What time is it?” the older male slurred, adjusting himself in the seat. 

 

“I don't know,” Aiichirou said quietly, reaching over Rin's lap to grab his jacket from the next seat. He lazily folded it up and balanced it on his shoulder for Rin to use as a softer and hopefully more comfortable pillow. “The sky looks beautiful though. I think it's around six o’clock or six-thirty.”

 

Rin hummed, agreeing even though he hadn't opened his eyes to look out the window. “About another hour then,” he mumbled, slowly grasping Ai’s hand. Ai stroked the length of Rin's thumb with the pad of his own, bringing their hands to his lips and softly kissing the tip of Rin's middle finger. Rin smiled and copied his lover's actions, slowly sitting up and stretching. 

 

“Why don't you close your eyes for the last stretch?” Rin suggested. “Mom likes to stay up all night cooking and watching Christmas movies, I doubt she'll let you fold in any earlier than midnight.” 

 

“I cant,” Ai whispered softly, cuddling closer to Rin as a heavy arm was wrapped around him. “I'm too nervous- what if she doesn't like me?”

 

“What's not to like?” Rin asked, his fingers tangled in Ai’s hair and massaging his scalp. Ai smiled and melted into his touch. “Besides- between Gou and myself, I'm sure she's heard plenty about you to have taken a liking.” 

 

Ai shrugged softly and laid his head against Rin's chest. “I'm just don't want to be that one time deal, temporary love interest that screws up the family Christmas pictures over a high school fling.” 

 

“Ai, you know it's not like that.” Rin sighed, repeating himself for emphasis. “You  _ know _ that.” 

 

“I know, but-”

 

“Good evening!” A server interrupted. “Can I get you guys any drinks or snacks?” 

 

“A drink would be nice, actually- yes,” Rin smiled up at her, somewhat grateful that someone slammed the brakes on Ai's train of thought. “I'll take some coffee- Ai, cocoa?- yeah, and some hot chocolate if you've got it.” 

 

“You didn't let me answer,” Ai whispered, feeling Rin lightly squeeze his shoulder as an apology. 

 

“I'll see what I can do,” the lady smiled as she walked off to another seat to ask the same question. Rin looked down at Ai, only to find him looking sad and nervous.

 

“Baby,” Rin said quietly, placing a finger under Ai's chin to redirect his focus. “You'll feel a lot better when we get there- right now your nerves are eating you up.” The redhead stroked Ai's smokey lavender hair and pulled him a little closer on the bench. “And you'll feel even better if you get a little bit of shut-eye between now and then.” 

 

Ai nodded gently, agreeing. Rin was right, after all. As long as Ai was awake and over thinking things, he would only worry himself more and more. He looked up when the lady returned and slowly set three foam cups on the small table in front of them, one of which held packets of sugar and cream for Rin's coffee. Rin thanked her and handed Ai the cup with the hot chocolate. “Here- drink it and get something warm in you and you'll be able to relax a little,” he said quietly. 

 

Ai held the cup with both hands and blew at the thick wisps of steam that floated up from the liquid. Rin ended up dumping a few half-and-half creamers into Ai's drink to help cool it down. Eventually Ai managed to down the hot chocolate and was curled up against the window, watching trees pass by until he drifted off to sleep. 

 

“C’mon, wake up.” Rin said quietly, gently shaking Ai's shoulder. The teen gasped softly and stood up, looking around. “Calm down, you're okay,” Rin laughed. “We’re at the station, the cab is waiting.” 

 

Ai nodded and stretched, yawning again. After he woke his body up he was handed a suitcase to roll behind him. He followed Rin off the train and to the front of the train station, walking with his eyes shut and his free hand holding onto Rin's. He was lead to the opened back door of a taxi while Rin loaded their suitcases into the trunk. Ai sat in the middle, leaving just enough room for Rin to sit by the door. Rin climbed in a moment later and closed the door after him, wrapping his arm around Ai as he gave the driver the address they were heading to. 

 

Even after leaving the station, it took over half an hour to get to Rin's home. When they finally arrived, suitcases in tow, Rin lead Ai to the front door. It opened just before Rin could reach the handle and they were greeted by smiling woman.

 

“Welcome home, Rin!” his mother sang, pulling her son into a tight hug. Ai smiled as he watched her delicate hands clutch the back of Rin's jacket. 

 

“Mn- I've missed you,” Rin sighed, holding his mother close as he towered over her by a good ten inches or so. “Mom, this is Aiichirou,” he said, breaking their embrace to introduce his boyfriend. Taking his name as a cue, Ai reached his arm out to shake her hand.

 

“It's such a pleasure to finally meet you,” she grinned, grabbing his hand but then pulling him into a hug as well. Ai slowly wrapped his arms around her, resting his chin on her shoulder for a moment. As he inhaled he could smell whatever she must've been cooking before they arrived, with the underlying scent of some floral perfume. Somehow it reminded him of home- his home, with his own parents. “Please, come inside!” she said happily as she released Ai from her hugging arms. She took off inside, apparently in a rush. 

 

“Rin,” Ai whispered softly as an arm wrapped around his waist. “What's your mom's name?” 

 

“Just call her mom,” Rin muttered, guiding Ai inside. Ai nodded awkwardly, removing his shoes in the doorway. 

 

“Is that Rin?” another voice called from somewhere in the house. 

 

“You tell me,” Rin shouted back, seconds before Ai heard a door squeak open. Gou appeared in the living room, smiling at the couple. 

 

“Welcome home,” she smiled. “Hey, Ai!” 

 

“Hi Gou,” Ai sighed. “Momo asked me to give you something as a Christmas gift.” he suddenly remembered, kneeling down and unzipping his suitcase. He grabbed a poorly wrapped box and offered it to her. “I'd normally wait until Christmas day, but.. I think it's urgent.” 

 

Gou took it in confusion and gently unwrapped it. Inside, she found a glass jar with a huge, creepy looking beetle inside. “How charming…” she said with an awkward tone. 

 

“Unfortunately it's too cold to release him into the wild,” Rin's mother frowned. “We’ll have to care for him until spring.”

 

Ai chuckled awkwardly as if he were to blame for the honestly unwanted ‘gift’. 

 

“Ai,” Rin said, placing a hand on the small of Ai's back. “I'll show you around while Gou and Mom finish up in here,” he offered.

 

“That sounds great,” Ai smiled, zipping the suitcase and following Rin around the house. As they walked from room to room, Ai curiously examined each photo on the wall, smiling at the sight of Rin as a baby and as a small child. Rin ended his tour in his own bedroom so they could get to unpacking their luggage. 

 

“Your mom is really nice,” Ai said quietly, hanging a shirt up in the closet. 

 

“Yeah- she's been waiting to meet you.” Rin muttered, handing Ai another shirt to hang. 

 

Ai nodded and walked over to Rin as he continued placing clothes on wooden hangers. He laid his head between Rin's shoulder blades and wrapped his arms around him, sighing quietly. “My parents are really upset that I'm missing Christmas with them this year.” he mumbled. “Even if we  _ are _ going there for New Year’s Eve.”

 

Rin looked down at Ai's small hands that were clasped together across Rin's chest. He lightly placed his own hands over them for a moment, then turned to hold Ai properly. “I know,” he whispered. “Next year we'll switch. It's just that this is my last year at Samezuka, and I'm going back to Australia for-” 

 

“I know,” Ai grumbled. He hated being reminded that Rin would be leaving for college soon. “I know..”

 

Rin frowned and kissed his head before holding him a little tighter. He felt Ai breathe a shaky sigh against his chest. “I love you,” Rin sighed.

 

“Shut up,” Ai hissed in return, his voice drowned by the fabrics of Rin's shirt. In this situation, those words sounded too much like a goodbye- even if there was six more months for them to be together. For a moment it sounded like Ai was sobbing, but Rin knew him well enough to pinpoint the sharp, shaking breaths as an attempt to calm himself down. After a good two minutes, Ai finally looked up from Rin's chest. “I love you too,” he whimpered, his voice weak. 

 

Rin gave him one last squeeze and released him in favor of hanging up the last of their clothes. “Wanna go visit with the girls or wrap gifts?” He asked, looking for an escape from Ai's emotions. 

 

“Maybe we should wrap the gifts so that they don't accidentally come across them,” Ai suggested, his face still a little red from his previous episode. Rin smiled and kissed his head once more. 

 

When everything was finally wrapped perfectly, the couple carried the presents out and placed them under the tree in front of the window. Aiichirou got distracted looking at all the keepsake ornaments on the tree while Rin walked off somewhere out of sight. He gave a sentimental smile as he looked at the gaudy paper poinsettias that the siblings made in their elementary school years. There were taped together paper snowflakes scattered here and there, along with little Christmas cards hanging from lengths of red yarn. He opened one up to read the sloppy handwriting of Rin when he was little. 

 

“Those are from when I was little,” Rin interrupted, occupying Ai’s hands with a glass cup. “When I was in Australia, I sent Mom a Christmas card every year, even though I'd be arriving home around the same time as the card got to her.” he laughed softly and Ai gave a sad smile, sipping the cold eggnog Rin had brought him. Rin wrapped an arm around him as his eyes scanned over the tree to find more childhood treasures to tell Ai about. 

 

“I..” Aiichirou sighed, shaking a little. “I think I'm gonna go call my mom and let her know we got here safely,” he said softly, ducking his way out from under Rin's protective arm and scurrying off to the bedroom. He sat on the edge of the bed for a moment before laying down and seizing Rin's pillow, hugging it as he shook and tears dripped from his eyes. 

 

He opted for texting his mother, not wanting her to hear him cry. They messaged each other for a few minutes about how they missed each other and their plans for Ai to spend Christmas with Rin's family, and for Rin to come home with Ai new years eve for their Christmas. Eventually Rin knocked quietly and the door creaked open. 

 

“Everything okay?” He asked quietly, sympathetic eyes scanning Aiichirou’s pink, wet cheeks. 

 

“Yeah,” Ai whispered, nodded a bit and tucking his phone away. 

 

“Mom bought gingerbread house kits,” Rin smiled nervously, hoping the silly idea of building something so childish would cheer Ai up. The younger teen gave a bit of a smile, slowly sitting up and setting the pillow back in its place. 

 

“That sounds fun,” he admitted, grabbing his eggnog off the bed stand and sipping it. 

 

Ai let Rin gently grasp his hand again and lead him to the kitchen table, which was covered with precautionary table cloths. Ai sat next to Rin and smiled at Rin's small family as they unboxed one of the kits. 

 

“We’re going to make this into a contest,” Gou stated, happily sorting her candies and icings. 

 

“A contest?” Ai asked softly, looking up at Rin then down at their box. 

 

“Yep!” Rin's mother chimed. “We have exactly one hour. The best looking gingerbread house wins.” she smiled. 

 

Ai smiled. “Ooh! Yay, I'm really good at these!” he grinned, snuggling against Rin and kissing his cheek. “We’ll win this!”

 

“What does the winner get?” Rin asked bluntly, sorting the pieces of their house. 

 

“Bragging rights!” Gou smiled. “But loser has to wear ugly sweaters for the rest of your stay!” 

 

Rin visibly cringed and pulled his cell phone out to set a timer. “Alright. Start in three… two... one!” he quickly pressed start and got to work on opening all the candy and icing, dumping the candies on the table. 

 

“You have to decorate it before you put it together, so it doesn't collapse when you try to decorate it later on,” Ai whispered, using a little dot of icing to glue a peppermint above the little door shape on one piece. He got some icing on his finger and licked it off without the first regret, smiling at the sweet taste until Rin playfully smacked him on the head. 

 

“Don't eat the supplies!” he snapped, and Ai elbowed him softly. 

 

Ai handed the front wall to Rin and started one the roof, erecting the little chimney pieces. “Awe Rin, look!” he giggled, holding up a little gingerbread man. “It's so cute!” he immediately abandoned the roof and stole the red icing from Rin so he could decorate the cookie to look like Santa Clause. He returned the icing after painting squares onto the chimney and snacking on another little squeeze of it. 

 

“Stop that,” Rin groaned, painting a wreath around the peppermint Ai had placed. After a moment Ai had the gingerbread Santa nested inside the little cookie chimney and was sticking candy tarts onto the roof as shingles. He passed it to Rin and stuck a gum drop in his mouth before starting to decorate the next piece. Within thirty minutes every piece of the house was decorated and set on their tray, unassembled. 

 

“We have to freeze it,” Ai said simply. 

 

“We don't have time for that!” Rin hissed as Ai gently carried the tray toward the fridge. 

 

“We’ll just let it freeze while we clean the icing off ourselves,” Ai smiled, opening the freezer with his elbow and setting the tray inside. 

 

Rin sighed, deciding to go along with Ai's plans if it meant he didn't have to wear one of those dreaded sweaters. “Mom and Gou have already put theirs together,” Rin noted, glancing back at the table. 

 

“It's okay, it'll end up all messy,” Ai whispered, grabbing Rin's hand and bringing it to his lips. He lightly licked and sucked a bit of dried icing off Rin's fingers, watching his boyfriend flush red. “But, ours will look nice.” he smiled and moved to wash his hands, licking excess icing off along the way. Rin watched Ai from behind, smiling at the little spring in his walk. 

 

After about ten minutes they took their cookie shapes out of the freezer and back to the table to start putting the gingerbread house together. 

 

“Done!” Ai cheered with only five minutes left on the clock. Meanwhile, Mom and Gou were decorating and giggling over their messy but functional gingerbread house. Ai smiled and turned to kiss Rin, both their mouths tasting like candy and eggnog. He broke the kiss only as he heard the sound of gingerbread tumbling down into a heap of sugary disaster. He gasped, carefully trying to stick pieces back together. “Crap,” he hissed. 

 

“It's because you ate all the icing,” Rin grumbled, trying to help but noticing that a wall had broken in half from the fall. “Where's the rest of it?” 

 

“I- I ate it,” Ai whined. “I thought we were done!” he tried to quickly defend himself. Rin growled in frustration and reached across the table, stealing one of Gou’s icing packets. 

 

“Hey!!” she whined, swatting at Rin's hand but to no avail. 

 

“Here, hold this together,” Rin prompted Ai as he bit open the icing and piped it onto the broken edges. They tried helplessly to reassemble their gingerbread house but just as the timer went off, it fell down again. 

 

Both Rin and Ai groaned, dreading the sweaters. They looked at each other and then at the floor. 

 

“I think it's clear to see who one,” Gou smiled. 

 

“I don't know, it's a tough call,” Mom hummed sarcastically, looking from their silly looking gingerbread house to the boys’ silly looking gingerbread heap. 

 

It only took a little over an hour to force Rin into his sweater. 

 

“Oh my gosh, Rin,” Ai giggled, pulling out his cell phone and opening the camera.

 

“I am  _ not _ taking a selfie with you- I look ridiculous.” Rin growled. 

 

“You look cute!” Ai argued. “They aren't even that bad!!” he looked at Rin’s sweater which had a gaudy Christmas tree stitched into it. Threaded onto the outside of the sweater was a string of little plastic lights. Then he looked down at his own sweater decorated with a considerably cute reindeer with a red nose. 

 

Rin gave a doubtful look before pressing the star on the tree on his sweater, and the reindeer’s nose on Ai’s. Immediately both sweaters lit up. The Christmas tree became illuminated by the little lights and so did the reindeer antlers. Rin's plan to make Ai cringe, however, completely backfired. Ai’s face lit up more than the sweaters did and he grinned from ear to ear. “So cute!” he laughed, holding his sweater away from his body where he could see it better. “Rin, please~!” he begged. “Just one picture!” 

 

Rin stubbornly shook his head, crossing his arms and looking away as if to close the conversation. Ai frowned and wrapped his arms around him, looking up with sad eyes as pouting lips. “Please, baby,” he whispered. Rin wrapped his arms around his boyfriend and looked down, smiling sweetly. 

 

“No, baby,” he grinned, holding true to his decision. Ai huffed and broke out of Rin's embrace, stomping over to the couch and falling into the corner of it, curling up against the arm. He immediately pulled out his phone and opened snapchat, making sure he looked alright in the light before clicking record. 

 

“Spending Christmas with bae’s family,” he whispered, a small smile tugging at the corner of his lips. “We have super cute Christmas sweaters but Rin won't let me take a picture.” he gave an exaggerated frown and tried to sneak a few frames of Rin as he broke off a piece of their broken gingerbread house and stuck it in his mouth. Ai grinned and hopped off the couch, hurrying to Rin's side. “Rin, say ‘Merry Christmas!’” Ai smiled, zooming in on Rin's face just before the other male turned away and held a hand up to his cheek to hide from the camera. 

 

“You do this every fucking time- let me eat my cookie in peace,” he snapped, his words slurred by half-chewed chunks of gingerbread. Ai laughed and recorded footage of their failed little gingerbread house. 

 

“This is my gingerbread Santa,” he explained to whomever would watch the video ten minutes from now. As he struggled to make the camera focus on his little piece of art, Rin plucked it from its perch in the chimney and bit it in half before setting the remaining fraction of the cookie back where it was. Ai gasped in shock. “ _ Rin! _ ” he scolded, getting a hand to his camera while Rin laughed. 

 

“I'm sorry, I'm sorry,” he laughed, covering his mouth with his other hand until he managed to chew and swallow the Santa cookie. “I love you,” he offered as an apology, pulling Ai into a hug and kissing him tenderly. The camera filmed a few seconds of tile floors as Ai kept his arms wrapped around Rin. 

 

“I love you too,” Aiichirou said quietly. “Even if you  _ are _ wearing a hideous Christmas sweater.” he giggled as Rin rolled his eyes and pushed him away. Ai recorded Rin's back as he walked away before turning the camera back onto himself. “Merry Christmas everyone,” he smiled, holding up two fingers and smiling until it stopped recording. He published it as his snapchat story and set about finding Rin wherever he'd gone to in the house. 

 

He found him in their room and joined him at the window, watching snow fall and just barely reflect the light coming from their window. He snuggled against Rin's side and felt his boyfriend wrap an arm tightly around his shoulders. “It's so beautiful,” Aiichirou whispered. Rin turned to face him, letting the curtain fall on front of the window when he released it. 

 

“I’d normally say the same about you, but…” Rin finished his sentence by pressing Rudolph’s nose and lighting Ai's sweater up again. Ai laughed swatting Rin's hand away. 

 

“Maybe we can be excused from the sweaters if it's to change into our pajamas.” he suggested, starting to pull his off. 

 

“Boys!” Mom called from somewhere else in the house. “Would you like to join us in the living room for movies and popcorn?” 

 

“We'll be right out!” Rin hollered back, helping Ai out of his itchy sweater before removing his own. Rin chose to go shirtless with just a pair of red sweatpants- because holiday spirit, maybe? Ai changed into a thin, long sleeved shirt that read ‘I like warm hugs ♡’ in a curly, sparkly font. To match it he wore pajama pants with scattered images of Olaf the snowman and little snowflakes here and there. 

 

They piled blankets and pillows on the living room floor and cuddled up, hardly paying attention to the movie for paying too much attention to each other.

  
Rin woke up to a quiet living room illuminated by the lights on the tree. Next to him, completely engulfed in sheets and blankets and with his legs tangled with Rin's was Ai, fast asleep, his face squashed against Rin's bicep. The red head gave a small smile and pulled the boy impossibly closer, watching the dim twinkle of Christmas lights until he fell asleep. 


End file.
